This is a study of dirty work, concentrating on urban refuse collectors. It will use survey data to test the relationship between dirty work jobs and the work attitudes, mental health, and off-the-job lives of the people who perform them. We aim to examine the variations in those effects associated with varying conditions of organizational ownership, of job design, and of workers' group membership and social ties on the job, in the home, and in the community. The survey will consist of interviews with 1,000 individuals employed in Western U.S. refuse collection organizations. The data collected will be used to test three major groups of hypotheses. We predict that more favorable work attitudes, higher self-esteem, and better mental health will be associated with: 1. shareholding in a refuse collection cooperative (as contrasted to being an employee of a refuse collection organization); 2. "cleaner" job designs; 3. higher group cohesion and ethnic identification.